The invention relates generally to imaging devices and more particularly to an ultrasound imaging device having a control panel with xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d controls.
Current ultrasound machines have evolved from lab instruments to highly sophisticated platforms with a wealth of applications. However, the control surfaces of these ultrasound machines still reflect their origins. Consequently, ultrasound machines typically have a large set of xe2x80x9chardxe2x80x9d physical controls. A xe2x80x9chardxe2x80x9d control is a control mechanism that is dedicated to execute a specific function. In contrast, a xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d control is a control mechanism that can be selectively designated to execute a particular function from a number of possible functions. Some of the current ultrasound machines have nearly 100 primary hard controls, each of which performs a dedicated function that is used only during some modes of the ultrasound machine, and unused during other modes. Due to their large control count, the purposes and behaviors of the various controls of ultrasound machines are difficult to learn and the controls are sometimes difficult to access during an ultrasound examination.
A typical control panel for a conventional ultrasound imaging system may include a standard keyboard and a trackball. The keyboard is used to input text into the ultrasound imaging system. The trackball may be used to manipulate a cursor displayed on a monitor of the ultrasound imaging system. The control panel would typically include numerous pushbuttons, rotaries, toggles, and sliders. These controls are xe2x80x9chardxe2x80x9d controls, and as such, each control is dedicated to a particular function. The exact number of controls on the control panel may vary from system to system. However, due to the large number of system parameters that need to be manipulated by the controls, the number of controls included in the typical control panel is large.
In an effort to provide flexible interfaces and reduce the control count, ultrasound machines have been developed that include touch-sensitive display surfaces. These display surfaces may include on-screen controls that replace some of the hard controls on the control panel. Although these display surfaces provide flexibility, they typically require high maintenance and fail to provide controls with positive tactile feedback to the user. Other developments have introduced an array of pushbuttons on the control panel that operate as xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d controls. The pushbutton soft controls may be operatively associated with a display surface that displays the current functions of these pushbutton soft controls. The functions of these physical controls can be made to vary with new modes or with an updated application software. A concern with the pushbutton xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d controls is that they are limited to a simple two-state function.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,535 to Short et al. describes an ultrasound imaging system having rotatable soft controls. The rotatable soft controls provide greater flexibility with respect to operation than pushbutton controls. The possible functions of the rotatable soft controls are displayed on an electro-luminescent touch panel display of the system. The rotatable soft controls are manually set to particular functions by touching menu items on the display.
Although the conventional ultrasound imaging systems operate well for their intended purposes, what is needed is an ultrasound imaging system having a logical control panel with soft controls whose variable functions can be easily manipulated.
A system and a method of manipulating system parameters directly from displayed graphics utilize universal controls whose functions can vary depending on the current position of a cursor displayed on a display device of the system. The universal controls allow the number of controls included in the control panel of the system to be significantly reduced, since each universal control can perform functions of multiple hard controls. The system may be an imaging system based on ultrasound, magnetic resonance, computed tomography technology, or other modalities.
In an exemplary embodiment, the system is an ultrasound imaging system that includes an ultrasonic scanhead, a processing unit, a user-friendly control panel, and a display device. The ultrasonic scanhead may be a standard probe that is commonly used in conventional ultrasound imaging systems. The display device may be a conventional computer monitor, such as a CRT or an LCD monitor.
The control panel of the system includes a keyboard, a trackball, a number of hard controls, and a set of universal controls. A first type of universal controls included in the control panel may be pushbutton rotatable dials. A second type of universal controls included in the control panel may be rotatable toggles. The functions of the universal controls are assigned by a control assignor of the processing unit. The control assignor operates to designate particular functions to the universal controls, when the cursor is positioned over one of the cursor-sensitive target areas on the screen of the display device. As an example, the cursor-sensitive target areas may include an ultrasound image, a depth scale, and a focal zone indicator.
The processing unit of the system also includes a display controller that controls the operations of displayed cursor-sensitive graphic elements. The cursor-sensitive graphic elements that are manipulated by the display controller include an annotation area, a pictogram area, toolbar buttons, and region of interest (ROI) controls. The display controller allows textual annotation to be inserted into the annotation area when the annotation area is activated. With respect to the pictogram area, the display controller displays a menu of selectable pictograms when the pictogram area is activated. However, when a toolbar button is activated, the display controller may display an on-screen control that can manipulate a particular system parameter. As an example, the on-screen control may be a graphic slider control that can adjust the depth of a displayed 2-D ultrasound image. The display controller also allows the ROI controls to change a number of aspects of the ROI, such as the location of the ROI on the screen image, the size of the ROI, and the angle of the ROI.
In addition, the processing unit includes a selective print driver that operates to selectively prevent undesirable graphics from being printed. Examples of undesirable graphics may include control handles of the annotation area and the pictogram area. The undesirable graphics may also include the toolbar buttons and the ROI buttons. The selective driver of the processing unit, as well as the display controller and the control assignor, may be implemented as software and/or hardware.
The method in accordance with the invention includes steps that relate to the assignment of functions to one or more universal controls of the control panel. These steps include a positioning step, during which a cursor is positioned over a cursor-sensitive target area of a screen image. As an example, the cursor-sensitive target area may be the depth scale. Next, the control assignor of the processing unit assigns particular functions to one or more universal controls on the control panel in response to the position of the cursor over the cursor-sensitive target area. The method also includes a selection step, in which a cursor-sensitive graphic element displayed on the screen of the display device is selected. This step may be achieved by positioning the cursor over the cursor-sensitive graphic element using the trackball of the control panel and then depressing the set button on the control panel. Next, one or more associated graphics are displayed by the display controller of the processing unit in response to the selection of the cursor-sensitive graphic element. Alternatively, the selection step may be followed by a different step, during which an aspect of the ROI is manipulated. The manipulation of the ROI may be achieved by using the trackball of the control panel. Steps that relate to the assignment of functions to one or more universal controls may be independent of steps that relate to the cursor-sensitive graphic elements.
An advantage of the invention is that the use of the cursor-sensitive target area to assign the functions to the universal controls of the control panel provides a simpler and faster user interface. Consequently, the operation of the system can be understood in a shorter period of time. In addition, the simpler and faster user interface results in a reduced worksheet and image review time.
Another advantage is that the manufacturing cost associated with the control panel is reduced, since the control panel has fewer controls. Furthermore, the universal controls allow more flexibility in adopting new controls by incorporating the functions of each new control into the possible functions that can be assigned to the universal controls.